Racial Theories Leading to the Third Reich
The Nazi State of the Third Reich is clearly defined by racial theory put into practice. One reading Burleigh and Wipperman's book; The Racial State, learns of these different racial theories and how they are implemented under Adolf Hitler in the Third Reich.
As one learns when reading The Racial State, Adolf Hitler's eugenic and racial-hygienic theories were not original. Theorists long before his time wrote of the same racist theories. Hitler never mentions any of these theorists in his work, but one can see when reading The Racial State, that the horrific acts that occurred during the Third Reich reflected the ideas of these theorists.
Theorist Alfred Grotjahn's believed that in order to achieve social hygiene, those who did not fit the social criteria of the state, should be isolated that in order to achieve social hygiene. Those that did not fit the social criteria of the state should be isolated and sterilized to eventually destroy these races. These people included, the insane, the work shy, alcoholics, those carrying diseases and accident victims. Zoologist Ernst Haekel shares this view with his theory that the 'central races' were superior and in order to maintain their superiority, those who were sick and not perfect within the group needed to be exterminated to maintain this perfection within their race. These were only theories of theirs, mere words on a piece of paper, but one sees this actually come into practice in the Third Reich. Hitler succeeded at having those sterilized who were not to his standards and as described by Grotjahn as "healthy germans". In 1934 the Heredity Disease Progeny Act came into legislation in Germany. As Burleigh and Wipperman...
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...sts alone would not have been able to put these theories into practice without the support of others. I find it hard to imagine that one reading these theories would be able to believe that these allegations were valid and justifiable reasons for the extermination of human beings. I believe it was economical interest that put these theories into action, not actually belief in the theories themselves. The theories served as justification, as an excuse for exterminating innocent people that posed as a threat to Aryan-Germans. It is appalling that something as Barbaric as the treatment of humans during the Third Reich actually took place, and that such obscure theories such as those I have discussed provided the structure for the Nazi State.
Bibliography:
Burleigh and Wipperman "The Racial State, Germany 1933-1945" Cambridge University Press
"Victims of the Nazi Era: Nazi Racial Ideology." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 05 May 2014.
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Given the large sphere of influence the Nazi society has had on the present world, studying the outcomes of such restrictive policies leads us to a straight forward question of just how effective they were.
One of the most destructive and arrogant persons in history was Adolf Hitler. The destruction that he and his regime brought on humanity has seldom seen its equal. In reality the Holocaust was a terrible horror, but in Hitler’s mind it was merely a brushstroke in the masterpiece that he believed he was creating. Hitler believed that the Aryan race was superior to all others and that it was only natural, and not cruel, that the higher would show no humanity toward the lower (296). This prejudiced belief predominated Hitler’s thinking. In his essay, On Nation and Race, his assumption that Aryans are superior to all others creates a type of logical fallacy called “Begging the Question” (Rottenberg 291).
An explanation of the Nazi’s rise to power would be inadequate without some attention given to the origins of Hitler, the Nazi party and the world views which would eventually shape the foundatio...
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Adolf Hitler (the Führer or leader of the Nazi party) “believed that a person's characteristics, attitudes, abilities, and behavior were determined by his or her so-called racial make-up.” He thought that those “inherited characteristics (did not only affect) outward appearance and physical structure”, but also determined a person’s physical, emotional/social, and mental state. Besides these ideas, the Nazi’s believed tha...
The obsession with Nazis comes the idea that they represent the idea that humans are susceptible to a certain psychology whether it be group think or an in-group/outgroup bias. I partially agree with Evans however I do not believe that “Third Reich represents racism in its most extreme form”. Unlike other marginalized groups the Jewish community has exceptionally thrived because they will not let others forget and maintained a strong foothold and make their history a necessity to know and understand. Evans makes a valid point on the timing of when the Nazis came to power. In the past when I thought of mass murder I thought of medieval times on a less” enlightened” society. He brings up the sophistication and cultured aspect of Europe and how
Hitler believes that human race can be divided into three categories- founders, maintainers and destroyers of culture. He firmly believes that the Aryan race compose the first category.
The treatment of Jews and other minority groups by the Nazi’s can be described as actions that could only be done by a totalitarian state. Hitler believed in eugenics, the idea of improving a race by selective breeding. Nazi ideology of the Jewish race was severe anti-Semitism and pure hatred. The Nazi policy towards the Jews has been said to be the most brutal and horrific example of anti-Semitism in history.
Eugenics, the belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, is one that is still used to this day. The issue with this belief, as with many other beliefs, is that it is very flawed for more reasons than one. One of the issues that can be found with the eugenics theory can be found through its data. The other issues can be categorized in either interpretation or in the overall outcome of eugenics. Although this belief began long before Hitler, possibly in the Victorian age, it became very popular during his time in power. During this time the seemingly perfect person had blue eyes, blond hair, and was white, all others were deemed unfit for the Nordic race and were likely killed as a result of it. The eugenics movement began with great observation of family trees from many families. Ant families that had diseases of defects of any type were shunned and taken away so that there would be no more generations to come.
After World War One ended, Adolf Hitler and many other Germans felt humiliated for losing the war. Adolf blamed the Jews, he felt they were the reason the war was lost. Hitler had been obsessed with race, specifically the purity of the German race. Which he believed to be the “master race”. Aryan is what he claimed the master race was, those with blonde hair, blue eyes and tall. This belief in the “Master Race” created a horrific massacre of nearly six million people with Jewish descent over the course of twelve years.